For the purposes of comparison for this thread, could we (americans anyway) maybe all start doing this test using Heet brand methanol (auto parts store dry-gas) just to make sure everyone's using the same chemical and to take storage/water absorption/whatever factors out of the methanol side of the picture more or less?

I e-mailed Neutral asking him to look at this test and give his opinion as to it's validity.

This is his reply.

"Regarding the conversion test with methanol, it looks promising. Biodiesel needs about 4 parts of methanol to dissolve, so with 9 parts, as in the test, it should all dissolve readily. Just how much total glycerol you would need to fail the test I cannot work out and would need to try it.

Ideally the test would need to be calibrated. You would take a sample of clean dry biodiesel that just scraped into ASTM by GC. Then find out by trial and error what ratio of methanol was needed to get a clear solution. Then you would have a pass/fail test.

Of course there is no reason why fuel needs to be ASTM. Perhaps a range of pass/fail levels would be needed to get a good handle on it.

One nice thing about the test is that it would work perfectly well on unwashed biodiesel, as 2 or 3 % methanol would have little effect. If you wanted to be precise you could adjust the amount added to allow for it but I don't think anyone would measure their samples accurately enough to notice the difference.

One thing you would have to be very careful about is the water content of the methanol. Any absorption of water from the atmosphere would reduce the solubility of oily things. A bottle of methanol kept for this purpose, opened frequently, would eventually go off."

We keep a 55 gallon drum of methanol on hand for other purposes. The specific gravity of the methanol is 0.794 gm/cc. It was retested on Saturday, July 8, 2006 with a lab instrument whose only function is to automatically measure SG. The instrument is temperature compensated and is recalibrated every 6 months.

AFH

Remember, these tests are indicators. My Sample A (above post) cleared in a few seconds. Small oil droplets, that initially formed as a "pin flock" in the methanol, formed within 3 or 4 minutes. Based on a strict interpretation of my understanding of Warnqvist's information my sample and your sample may not be full ASTM conversion biodiesel. But, both exhibit a very high conversion percentage.

well where do i starti run a 1 ltr test batch using KOHdid shake left to settle then tested 27/3 it was crystal clear,i then washed and dryed still crystal clear then did same test again 27/3 its hazey but no oil or bio in bottom of jar

In order to more accurately compare results from this test, it would be useful to be able to measure the dropout.

It seems what would be great for this is a graduated cylinder that tapers, like a funnel to a point at the base. Is there such a thing?I have ben looking at lab glassware shops online and cant seem to find anything like that.

A standard test in almost all waste water treatment plants is "settleable solids".

This test uses a one liter tapered (or conical) bottom glass flask. The flask is open at the top and the bottom is closed. Each flask comes with calibrated milliliter marks starting at the very bottom with zero.

This flask would be absolutely ideal, because it is specifically designed for this purpose.

I haven't done it, but a google search on "waste water treatment" and " settleable solids test" should quickly locate the item.

As promised, I did measure the drop-out from my GC tested 78% Ester sample. To be accurate, it would have needed to be .6mL, which is around 20% of the volume 3mL, added which was 'not esters' in that sample.

I did in fact measure nearly .75mL, but during separation some meth did get 'sucked up' with the fall-out. I have left it to settle in the measuring syringe overnight.....